Pastilla with Chicken, Almonds and Orange Blossom Written by Samia Bouchenafa 17 December 2018

https://lemondeculinairedesamia.com/la‐pastilla‐au‐poulet‐amandes‐et‐fleur‐doranger/

Pastilla with chicken, almonds and orange blossom Written by Samia Bouchenafa 17 December 2018

The Almond Chicken Pastilla flavored with orange blossom

An absolutely delicious dish, fragrant with orange blossom, cinnamon and multiple spices, coriander, it is festive par excellence it is one of the best dishes of the Great Maghreb, pastilla or bastela is a complete dish that is served for holidays or big occasions, but to look at it it is a dish that you can make all year round and that is not so expensive.

I would come back with another post that is in preparation on the origins of the pastilla that was not called that in medieval times. This dish is very old, and there are several versions, sweet and salty, sweet, milk, toasted almonds and honey, etc...

A very emblematic dish in Morocco, it will be stuffed with pigeon (origin of Fez) or ground meat, or chicken and more recently seafood. It is also found in Algeria or Tunisia (in fact there was a version that was done in Candle and Ifriqiya (The territory of Ifriqiya corresponds today to Tunisia, east of Constantine (Eastern Algeria) and Tripolitaine (Western Libya) ref pastilla. They prepared the kûnafa(s) with butter and smen instead of oil, but in oil they are better and keep better, that was in medieval times). https://lemondeculinairedesamia.com/la‐pastilla‐au‐poulet‐amandes‐et‐fleur‐doranger/

In the meantime, let's get back to the subject of our chicken pastilla, and this dish which is a pure treat. I love this version with chicken and the scent of the orange blossom is just sublime, choose a good flower water, mine I bring it back from a distiller in Marrakech and my friend Robert brings me also this precious nectar from Lebanon that is just exceptional. The addition of gum arabic in the recipe is not mandatory, but I put it, because its role when dissolved, is soluble in water and allows to thicken our sauce and it is a taste enhancer, I advise you to put it.

The preparation may seem a bit long, but it is not complicated to do, and the end result is well worth it. Go ‐ the recipe is below.

Here is a Youtube video that will help you make this delicious chicken pastilla: https://youtu.be/kyvKdeMRADo

Ingredients for 8 people or 6 foodies . 2 large chicken breasts . 1 tsp icing sugar . 100g whole white almonds . 1 onion . 1 packet of brick sheets . 1/2 bunch of parsley . 4 whole eggs . 1/4 bunch of coriander . 1 tbsp orange blossom water . 1 pinch of salt . 1/4 teaspoon gum arabic powder . 1 pinch of pepper . 1 pinch nutmeg . 2 knobs of butter . 1 cinnamon stick . cinnamon powder for decoration . A few saffron pistils . icing sugar for the décor . 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger . 2 tbsp table oil . 1 good tbsp honey

https://lemondeculinairedesamia.com/la‐pastilla‐au‐poulet‐amandes‐et‐fleur‐doranger/

Preparation method

1. In hot oil, put the chopped onions and fry with a knob of butter, then add the chicken breasts. Then add the spices, then the parsley and coriander in bunches (do not chop them), honey, nutmeg and gum arabic and simmer for 15 minutes. 2. Remove chicken and reduce sauce. 3. Shred the chicken breasts keeping a little of the sauce reduced and mix with the chicken. 4. In the remaining sauce, add the eggs and scramble the eggs in the pot with the sauce reduced. Roast the whole white almonds, then pass it to the food processor, to have a mixture not too thin but not too big either, reserve a little (1 good tablespoon) for the décor, mix the rest with the teaspoon of icing sugar, a little ground cinnamon and orange blossom. 5. Mount the pastilla, butter a 1st sheet of bricks, then add a 2nd sheet that will overlap on the previous one, do the same until you have gone around the circle as in the photos. 6. Fill the pastilla, starting with the sweet and fragrant almonds with orange blossom, then the shredded chicken. 7. Finish with the sauce/onion/reduced scrambled egg, cover with a sheet of buttered bricks, and tuck the excess leaf under the pastilla, then fold the leaves that protrude. 8. Flip the pastilla and butter, you'd be obliged to do this if you cook it in a mold as on the video. 9. Bake in a hot oven outside the pan (traditional cooking) about 45 minutes until golden brown. 10. Serve hot sprinkled with icing sugar and decorated with ground almonds or cinnamon powder.

I put detailed photos below, I think I was clear in the unfolding (well I hope) because I have not seen many people put a step by step guide as complete as this.

Oh yes a little advice, if you want to get ahead: prepare the almonds, juice, chicken the day before, but do not prepare your pastilla and do not put it in the fridge, many make this mistake by saying I will do it before and when my guests will come I will put it in the oven. Big mistake, because the brick leaves will moisten and your pastilla will be very soft then cooking.

Step‐by‐step photos https://lemondeculinairedesamia.com/la‐pastilla‐au‐poulet‐amandes‐et‐fleur‐doranger/

https://lemondeculinairedesamia.com/la‐pastilla‐au‐poulet‐amandes‐et‐fleur‐doranger/